Janusz Korwin-Mikke
Janusz Korwin-Mikke was born 27 October 1942. He is a Polish political commentator and Member of the European Parliament. He is the leader of the Congress of the New Right, which was formed in 2011.
Education
Janusz Korwin-Mikke studied at the Faculty of Mathematics and Faculty of Philosophy of Warsaw University. In 1965 he was detained by the communist authorities while studying psychology, law, and sociology. In 1968 he was again arrested, jailed and expelled from the university for his participation in student protests. He passed his master's examination without attending any philosophy courses. In years 1969–1974 he was a researcher in the Institute of Motor Transport, and then at Warsaw University.
Political Career
In 1978 Janusz Korwin-Mikke established 'Liberal Publishing House' - an underground publishing house. From 1962 to 1982 he was a member of the Democratic Party, a puppet party subordinate to the communist authorities. In August 1980 he supported the political strike of the Szczecin Shipyard workers, and later he was an adviser of The Independent Craftsmen's Union. After the imposition of martial law, he was interned but later released. In 1987 he was elected the chairman of a liberal-conservative political party called 'The Real Politics Union'.
Korwin-Mikke was a Member of Parliament during the first term of the Parliament of the Third Republic of Poland. He was the originator of the vetting resolution on 28 May 1992, which obliged the Minister of Internal Affairs to disclose the names of all politicians who had been communist secret police agents. The disclosed list contained numerous prominent politicians of most political factions. This led to the government being overthrown by the opposition and the President Lech Walesa.
He was a candidate for the Real Politics Union in the Polish presidential election of 1995, obtaining 2.4% of the vote. He was also candidate in 2000 when he got 1.43% of the vote. In the senate by-election in Wrocław in April 2004 he got 18% of the vote, but did not win the seat. In the presidential elections of 2005 he obtained 1.4% of the vote.
In 2005, he left the Real Politics Union and created a new party, 'Freedom and Lawfulness'. In 2014 he was elected to be a Member of the European Parliament.
Public Life
Korwin-Mikke is a popular public figure in mass media and on the internet, mainly due to often unusual or eccentric ways of demonstrating his political stances. For instance, he protested against high taxes in Poland by eating his tax return together with Polish musician Krzysztof Skiba in front of the Polish revenue service office.
Janusz Korwin-Mikke is a former professional contract bridge player. He has authored, together with Andrzej Macieszczak, a popular book on the subject. He also writes the most popular political blog in Poland.
